Good news about the BBQ place, we could use some good ones in the area. Check out http://pigtrip.net/ for a good roundup on New England joints. Manchester, NH used to have several good places, but a few have closed or moved away recently. My personal favorite in the area is Blue Ribbon BBQ in Arlington. I normally get take-out and enjoy at home with a cold beer. Try the chipotle BBQ sauce, if you go.

I'm heading to Lowell Summer Music for Lucinda Williams next Sat. I was hoping to do a picnic dinner there. It looks like they have food vendors there and I'm not sure if you can bring your own. Does the GG have recommendations for the shows at Boarding House Park?

Takes some serious cojones to close down all together, especially if you're as new as one of them in particular.

I was going to check it out the other day and found it closed. Time will tell if the decision to close was an intelligent one. It's not a very nice thing when you go out to give someone money and you have to walk away hungry.

Came into Lowell with the family for dinner and was shocked to find them all closed. Even the new ice cream shop wasn't open at 7 o'clock on a summer night - but then the streets were like a ghost town...so maybe it makes sense. Went to Nashua and had a great meal at Surf Seafood. That $100 would have been spent in Lowell - but they apparently didn't want our $$$.

Good for you NH Jeff. Blue Ribbon in Arlington and Newton are my absolute fav in the area. Bison County in Waltham is up there too, their chicken wings are nothing short of incredible!

Luckily I have a friend who lives abour a block from the Arlington BR and another friend near the Newton one. We go and try to eat there but if there's no table available we're back at their place within minutes putting the hurt on that delicious BR BBQ.

I like the congo bar for dessert!

Anyone know if the local version of restaurant week is a go or what? Their website is barely functional and hardly any of the links on it work.

Thanks,
Peter

You know what I say. Every day you close is an opportunity for me to try one of your competitors. Should have stayed in Lowell Marvin. Plenty of good eating options, even without the dining establishments with bankers hours.

Jeff, you can bring take-out food from anywhere. My wife and I always do. The best travel food is the Mamborito from Mambo's, Souvalki Sandwich from Athenian and the pizza slice from Espresso's. I think all three are always open on Saturday.

As a resident of DTL I was dismayed to find so many businesses closed over the holiday weekend... Not exactly the picture of a thriving city. I think the restaurant owners will find that they missed out on a good amount of business last weekend--not everyone was cooking out. There were actually a good number of tourists in town. The NPS parking lot on Dutton was full!!

I think everyone deserves a vacation, don't they?

Disclosure: I'm in the food business as a chef, but not in a restaurant. I took Saturday and Sunday off. It's the last time off I'll have until after Thanksgiving. I called places I wanted to go to, and if they were closed for vacation, that meant I could go somewhere else. I don't hold it against them or throw off some attitude that a restaurant is closed....

Went to Olive That Sundsay morning and found them closed at 9:30. Where they closed for the weekend? Very disappointed that they always seemed to be closed when I go there and their weekend hours have shortened since last summer. Downtown needs a good breakfast place with something besides pastries and bagels.

Jean Pirri,

First of all, thank you for the work you do.

I'm not too big on the concept of "deserves" in general. But I am big on the concept of being able to count on a place which serves lunch and dinner being open from roughly noon until roughly 10PM.

I have always heard the restaurant owners I know talk about working 10 or 15 years without a vacation or about not being able to close down because they couldn't get anyone to cover for them. What happened to that kind of dedication?

Once I see a place is willing to just close shop, it is impossible for me to ever again leave my home and head there confident I will find anyone there.

Of course it's totally their choice I'm not telling anyone what to do or anything like that, I'm just saying I'm probably not the only one who likes to "gamble" on a particular place being open.

Luckily I walked, but I'd have been through the roof had I paid for parking and found them closed!

I've always been curious about the Sunday closings. I know Fridays & Saturdays are popular nights out but Sunday is still the weekend and my husband and I always like to unwind and make this our "cheat" day. We've walked to the Coffee Mill before (love their Heath bar latte) on a Sunday morning only to find it closed...strange because I thought Sunday mornings were MADE for coffee, pastries and reading the paper. And it's always bothered us that Cobblestones is closed. We've gone there more than once to have a beer at the bar on a Sunday during a game...I guess it still slips our mind because it's so baffling to us.

Thanks, Peter! It's always good to have someone appreciate the work you do :) even if you might not ever have tasted the food I make! Please remember to tell the chef anywhere you go if you enjoyed their food; if you didn't enjoy it remember to be polite about offering constructive comments (and hopefully the chef will take them in the spirit they are given! There's always room for improvement in every business!)

Owners who work that long without a break suffer somewhere else in their lives - maybe they don't have enough family time, or they forsake their family for customers. I don't know if that is a good thing. What's that adage about no one on their deathbed says they wished they'd spent more time at work? It's hard being in the food business, especially now with rising fuel costs, food costs and the economy affecting what people are willing to spend and the choices they make. It's as if you can't win for trying.

In this age of cell phones and online communication, restaurants should post their closings in advance; and update their phone systems accordingly. Being someone who enjoys going out when I have the time and energy, I always call first. I have no patience for waiting in line, especially when I'm hungry! If I just go out randomly, I'm likely to be disappointed. So now I plan ahead, and go online to look at their menu or call ahead for a reservation.

There's also nothing wrong with letting your favorite place know you missed them, or that you'd like them to be open on Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon....

Etsogo was open on the 4th and we ate there for lunch. Being a holiday, it was a weekend menu so we had to get a full entree instead of a lunch special, but it was still delicious :-) I love the food there but I'm always worried about how few people I see in there. But, I can say that about at least 50% of the restaurants down here. Either Lowell rent is unbelievably cheap and these people have no major household expenses ... or I'm worried we'll see this whole thing come crashing down on us all at once.

At least Cobblestones is consistent. They are always closed on Sundays save for Mother's Day and Easter. I do have to agree with the consensus that unexpected closings are very frustrating. The Coffee Mill is also always closed on Sundays too but I too wish it weren't. Everyone needs coffee on sunday morning! I guess I'd have to say that I don't understand the random holiday closings. Christmas and New Years yes...but 4th of July? Labor Day? These are times when people are outside, enjoying the weather, and hopefully looking to grab a bite at your local establishment. Feed us! : )

Closing down for a holiday is one thing. Closing down one day a week is another. Closing down for a week or two weeks tells me the owner should get a bank job and get out of the restaurant business.

God made the WHOLE EARTH in 6 days so I'll never knock Him for taking the seventh day off.

Like I said, obvisouly do what you want to as far as staying open, it's your business and nobody is saying you can't take every day off if that's what you think you need to do.

But as far as showing up to a restaurant at meal time and them not being open I must defer to this great President of ours (RDRR) who once said: "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me again, fool me, well, the point is you can't get fooled twice."

Yes, call us idiots! We were the first to make fun of ourselves that day! Doesn't matter anymore anyway because Beerworks is open 7 days per week.

Peter, I would suggest calling the restaurant before you venture out. I admire these restaurant owners who work 7 days a week and rightly deserve a vacation. I would argue shame on the residents for not being as supportive as they could during the times they are open. Obviously, the owners are able to justify shutting down for a week which we should consider a larger problem from lack of support. In regards to being open on sunday, I've been here for 5 years and the options for sunday dining has gone up 5 fold. There used to be NO place to go. Now we have Etsogo, Blue taleh, angelinas, hookslide, centro, cafe paradisio and now beer works. I would argue that this is a great success for both the owners and residents. We need to support these business owners and just b/c you went to a restaurant once and it was closed, I hope this doesn't deter you from going back there or frequenting other establishments.

As long as we're still stuck on this concept of "deserves," I think Peter Rollins deserves to be able to go to a restaurant at 7:30 in the evening and expect it to be open, don't you "deserve" that too?.

Mr. Rollins
I will let you think about this those resturant who are all close the same week in july EVER year at that time has never been a issue to the guest who go there on a nightly bases, because they know that the owners and chefs work 60 to 80 hours in any given week these resturants are rare in the world of culinary for closing a week but there owners who i have worked for should be admired for there love of there staff and quality of family vs work life.

Truely yours
The Mad Chef